StickiNote Is Like a Digital Post-it for Smart Displays

Espressif’s ESP32 microcontrollers are incredibly popular for a reason: they are powerful, have integrated Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, and are very affordable. We often refer to them by the “ESP32” family name, but that actually includes several different models with varying capabilities. One of the newer models is the ESP32-P4, which Espressif designed for high-performance applications. Eric of That Project was able to take advantage of that performance to build this “StickiNote” app that runs on smart displays equipped with ESP32-P4 microcontrollers.

This kind of app isn’t exactly novel. There are hundreds of similar apps and programs available for smartphones, computers, and even smart refrigerators. But Eric’s implementation is interesting because of the hardware on which it runs. Eric designed this as a sort of central household device where family members can leave notes for each other. Those could be grocery lists or reminders to take out the garbage. The app itself looks really nice, with a pleasant GUI, on-screen keyboard, space for several notes, and more. And it runs very smoothly.

You could install a similar app on something like an iPad, but that would be expensive. You’d also have to deal with iOS updates, long boot times, and all of the other inconveniences that come with a general-purpose device like a tablet.

Eric’s StickiNote only requires two pieces of hardware: an ESP32-P4 development board (Eric used a Waveshare ESP32-P4-NANO) and a compatible MIPI DSI screen (Eric used a Waveshare 10.1” touchscreen model). Those are available together as a kit from Waveshare for $86.99, though the kit is currently on backorder.

Eric says that the use of the ESP32-P4, instead of one of the other ESP32 models, was critical for the success of this project. The app’s GUI is quite resource-intensive and it needs a lot of processing power to run smoothly. The ESP32-P4 has that, thanks to the dual-core RISC-V CPU that can run at up to 400MHz. Compare that to, say, the ESP32-C3 (designed for low-power applications), which has a single-core RISC-V CPU running at 160MHz, and you can see why it makes such a difference.

With less than $100 spent on hardware and the installation of StickiNote, you can put a very useful purpose-built productivity device in your home to help your family stay organized.